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This blog is dedicated to my mother who is my biggest inspiration and a true magician in the kitchen. The two of us have spent many memorable days together cooking up different things.
Most of the recipes that you'll find here are my own. And some are my family's or bits and parts of several recipes that I find on the net.

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Friday, August 30, 2013

I love cauliflower... I love it extra when cooked with goat meat.... and when you throw in a couple of Malabari parathay into the equation... its heavenly!

Ingredients

Onions - I used a yellow onion (1 cup chopped)
Roma tomato 1 large (A little less than 1/2 of a cup when cut up in eights)
Thai chilies 4-5 medium sized (About 2 heaped Tbs. when minced - Use more or less if you want)
Garlic 3 large cloves (1 heaped Tbs. minced)
Ginger 1" chunk (3/4 Tbs. minced)
Goat meat 1 1/2 lbs. (Cut up into stew size chunks with bones)
Olive oil 3-4 Tbs.
Cauliflower florets (Roughly 4 cups. This was 1/2 of a large cauliflower head)
Some water for cooking
Some cilantro to sprinkle on top. Roughly chopped about 2-3 Tbs.

Rub the spices all over the meat and set aside while you are prepping everything else.
Use a wide pan.
Fry the onions in some oil. Medium low heat, cook until they are quite caramelized... we are looking for a very dark brown color.
Add the minced ginger, garlic and chilies..... cook for another minute or 2 and then the tomatoes go in.
Ten minutes later take everything out and blend into a smooth paste and keep aside.
Pour some more oil in the same pan and crank up the heat.
Sear the goat meat for about 1 minute on one side then flip and sear the other sider for another minute.
Now you can return the onion and tomato paste you just made back into the pan.
Add 3/4 cups of water. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat, cover your pan and let this simmer for a good hour and a half or until the meat is fall off the bones tender.
Using a pressure cooker will reduce this time significantly! I felt too lazy to pull mine out from the back of my cabinet. I just watched a bunch of Ducktales while the meat was cooking:-D
Anyway... after about 1 1/2 hour you will have an awesome goat curry which you can enjoy with naan or over rice.
However since we are making gobhi gosht... now will be time to add the cut up florets into the pan.
I like adding fairly large pieces of cauliflower since they break down quite a bit during cook time.
We want the end result to be kind of a dry curry so if you have a lot of liquid left over in your pan then cook with the lid ajar otherwise cook covered.
I prefer the cauliflower to be firm so I cooked it for 15 minutes..... if you like them to be very tender and continue to cook for an additional 10 minutes or so.
And now you are done.
Easy.
:-)

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

A traditional dessert made specially on Eid in Pakistan and India.
Sort of like a pudding..... very easy to make and best if served cold.

I prefer subtle flavors so I just used cardamom, almonds and dates.

But if you feel adventurous go ahead and flavor the milk with a few strands of saffron instead of cardamom. You can also add different nuts and dried fruits like pistachios, almonds, raisins, sultanas, dates, dried apricots and dried coconut to name a few.

There are several different types of vermicelli that you can find. Unfortunately Shan foods does not have the vermicelli listed on their website or maybe they do and I just couldn't find it so here is a picture of what I used. You can also use a similar product made by National Foods.

Method

First of all you will need to break the vermicelli into smaller strands... it's best to use your hands for this. Just grab the whole bunch from one end and twist your hand to break them. There will be flyaways and lots of them! But if you are careful and do this slowly you won't make a mess hopefully :-)

Now take the stones out of the dates.
I like to blend the dates into the milk.... I like the flavor and love the creamy color that it creates.
But if you prefer you can just cut them up into quarters or eighths. Just remember that if you decide to use date chunks you may need to use more sugar.

Place the broken vermicelli pieces into a large pot.
Add milk blended with the dates (or date chunks), cardamom powder, sugar and bring this slowly to a gentle boil.
Simmer for 5 mins and take it off the heat.
Add the ground almonds and mix well.
Allow to come to room temperature and then refrigerate for 4-6 hours at least to make sure its very cold.

Here is another way to make vermicelli for Eid this year :-)
I used to teach this in my class and all my students loved it!
Good idea to eat this warm... it's sort of like a Halva with some crunchiness.
I highly recommend to use your fingers for eating this instead of a plain 'ol spoon :-)

There are several different types of vermicelli that you can find. Unfortunately Shan foods does not have the vermicelli listed on their website or maybe they do and I just couldn't find it so here is a picture of what I used. You can also use a similar product made by National Foods.

Method

First of all you will need to break the vermicelli into smaller strands... it's best to use your hands for this. Just grab the whole bunch from one end and twist your hand to break them. There will be flyaways and lots of them! But if you are careful and do this slowly you won't make a mess hopefully :-)

Combine melted butter, eggs, sugar and cardamom powder in a bowl and use a fork to mix well.

Place the broken vermicelli inside a wide non stick pan.

Turn the heat to medium low and pour the mixture into the pan.

Make sure the temperature is not too high otherwise the eggs will scramble!

You will need stir this often.

The vermicelli will go through the following stages. The lighting is bad but I thought pictures might help.

First very soggy

After 2-3 minutes a little less soggy, somewhat held together but super oily. At this point you can raise the temperature up to medium high and continue to stir often.

A couple of minutes later it will become kinda feathery.... you are almost there.

Finally after a few more minutes it should be very feathery, dry looking with some soft lumps.

All done.
Turn off the heat.
Mix in the ground almonds and coconut.
Serve warm with maybe a big dollop of un-sweetened whipped cream!!!
:-)